Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-01-07
AMERICAN HOMES
Our Climate to Re Considered when y.
Build.
Boston Budget.]

Boston Budget.]
It is amusing to hear q man or woman
who has crossed the ocean ridicule our
country dwelling-houses, and compare
them with the picturesqueness of tie
English cottage, of the German farm.
house, the vine-grown walls, the win.
dows projecting from the roofs, the low
height, the shadow, the quiet tone
about them, and the irregular form.
They would give all the staring. formal
villas of this country for one little ivy
grown or red-roofed cottage in an En-.
glish hawthorn lane, or q green German
valley. But experience teaches that a
country's architecture is, to Q large de. +
gree, necessary fruit and outcome of I
it's circumstances. We have peculiar
and difficult climate here, and must,
first of all, consider it in our building.
There is the heat of the tropics in the
summer, and the almost Arctic cold in
the winter. We cannot have low houses
here, for the rooms would be intol.
cradle in summer. Low. sharp-gabled
cottages, with dormer windows in the
roof, are no doubt picturesque, but
they mean hot chambers under the
roof and low, close sitting-rooms. Even
if an air chamber be secured between
the roof and the bedroom, still the
upper rooms, in such nights as We
have now, would be almost unendur-
able. We must have houses Eigh be-
tween floors, and the bedroom we'll |
separated from the roof.
Then another element of the pictur-
esque is the deep shade and thick vines
overclambering the walls. But our ex-
perience shows that sun and air are In
dispensable for health in house. and !
we are compelled more and more to |
plant trees ct little distance, securing
shade by piazzas or balconies, and al
lowing the sun free play on roofs and |
walls. A moderate use Of wall-vines u.s.
of course, permitted under these con-
ditions, but any excessive draping with |
ivy or creepers breeds insects, and In
creases dampness. The constant liza I
bility to malaria, of course, modifies all !
our modes of building, and compels us
to admit sun and air. Indeed it will be
noticed now in England that all the
country houses are built much more in
the American or French style than
formerly, with airy chambers, high
stories and much openness to the sun,
and summer balconies for shade.
The regular form of English houses
is o historical feature, aresult Of growth.
It appears here sometimes where an
old country seat has been enlarged and
remodeled, and is wonderfully attract.
i've. I live in such house, and while
enjoy it, and am proud of it, 1 must
confess that it is exceedingly incon-
venient. It requires great expense in /
the care, lighting, warming, and drain |
age. The cheapest of all houses is the |
square house, and as most people build |
with small means in this country, they
naturally adopt this, or some modif- |
cations of this form. These old and
irregular English villas, it should bel
remembered, have become nuisances
under modern sanitary ideas. Their
drainage is execrable, and they are
often nests of typhoid fever.
In this country the first thing for al
householder to consider, before all
ornamentation or architectural effect,
is drainage. He must see to it that his
water pipes and drain pipes are we'll
protected from the frost, that the traps
are close, and that the outflow is ,Aniln-
peded. In all small households it isl
the part of wisdom to place the water
pipe behind the kitchen chimney, which
is always warm, and to have but one
angle and no cross-pipes to any bed
room. So fatal are the return gases
from a drain, that it is safer to keep upy
the old country custom of bowl and
pitcher in the bedroom, and obtain all
the water from but one place, the bath
room, which should be entirely sepa-
rated from the bedroom. It is be-
lieved by physicians that one of the
most prolific sources of diphtheria and
all foul-air diseases is the return gas
through the Croton water-drains.
In regard to material, it is doubtful
IT anything is more suitable for this
climate than wood with "brick filed
ill.," This is dry and warm. But inl
every locality there are peculiar, and
often beautiful, building stones, which,
could be combined with wood in the
Swiss chalet style with very pretty
effect. Yet small house builders will
find that every deviation from ordinaryI
style is expensive. Stone alone seems
often damp, and, for some unknown
reason, not SO completely water-tight.
- ~. WI 40 d 'eiy pietLy feature, QUIZ
if of tile or slate it is expensive, and i'll
of shingles exposed to rot. It seems al
pity that the modern black and blue
slate is so much taking the place of
shingles in country houses. Piazzas1
are the great necessity in this climate,
and the prettiest feature in our archi7
lecture. They should not, however, be
built on tie south side of the building
and on the west should not be SO broad
as to exclude all winter sun. A balcony
for an open-air breakfast would be anil
exceedingly pretty feature in our best
villas.
UnsOlved Problems.
Prof. Young names four problems,
in solar physics whose solution isl
urgently demanded and would be al
great advance in astronomical science.
First, an explanation Of the peculiar
law by which the suns surface at the
equator makes complete rotation in
about twenty five days while place